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3/1/13

Froztok, Crystar wannabe or diamond in the rough?

I ran across this action figure the other day and simply had to have him. My initial reaction upon looking at him was that he reminded me so much of the old Crystar action figures of the 80's, which I sorely miss and wish I still had today!

He is not a minion of Crystar's world, however - he's Froztok from the Redakai toyline.

I don't know anything about this line. I've seen them at Target etc. on occasion, and I remember SuperDuperToyBox blogging about one a while back, but other than that...nothing. And that's fine with me. I didn't buy this figure based on any cartoon or comic or movie tie-in, I bought him because he looked so awesome - and since I found this guy at Big Lots for three dollars, the Crystar nostalgia alone was worth the price of admission!

If you want to learn more about the line and card game associated with it, feel free to visit the Redakai website.

There are a few other neat looking action figures in the line, and I may go back for more now that I've busted Froztok open and know the level of quality these guys present.

Froztok is surprisingly well articulated and constructed. He's got ball joint and swivel points all over - he's as articulated as any $10 Marvel action figure of the same scale (He's about 4 1/4" tall). And best yet, his translucent plastic is exactly like that of my fondly remembered Crystar.

The only paint on Froztok is his two red eyes, which is pretty neat - the minimalist approach works excellently on this crystal (or ice) warrior!

As if all that weren't enough, Froztok also comes with two translucent green blades! And they didn't cut corners on these, they aren't simply one blade stamped out twice, these are right and left hand specific! It's those attentions to detail that really make this figure a steal at three dollars.

I'm pretty fond of my Froztok. Had there been more of him on the shelf I would have considered army building, or buying some for customs. As it was, there was only one. Maybe Big Lots will get more soon.

In the meantime, let me go off on a tangent a bit: A while ago the League of Extraordinary Bloggers asked what we all thought would be the 'collectibles of tomorrow.' I missed the write-up deadline on that one but have been thinking about it a lot since, and I believe toys like Froztok here will play a big part in that future wave of collectible nostalgia, and here's why:

Because he's on the fringes of collectors' radar.

Sure, there will be big Nick Turtle collectors seeking their original Raphs and Pokemon and Batman and MU and DC collectors always and forever, and the toys they want to recapture (and info on said toys) will be relatively easy to come by. Because Mattel and Playmates and Hasbro made millions of them, and lots of folks who don't play with their toys will have boxed extras or untouched dusty shelf minions to sell on future eBay.

But what about stuff like this, that for the most part only appealed to kids and was looked over by collectors and speculators? Stuff like the Chap Mei fantasy themed toys you find at Walgreens and CVS. Stuff that has little to no peripheral media attached to it?

Some guy in his 30s in the year 2033 will be typing 'Ice monster green blades' to find Froztok because he will only recall having gotten him for his 10th birthday from an aunt out in Vegas and he tore the packaging away immediately and never even looked at the figure's name, but grew to love him because he was so sturdy and versatile and eventually he lost him or mom sold him and boy he'd love to get that obscure action figure back, with or without those green swords (did he have two or just one, he can't remember) now that he's an 'adult' and needs to reclaim his youth and accept that he never really outgrew toys he merely caved to societal pressure for a few years as a teen.

And there will be hundreds of thousands of carded Batmans and Superman movie action figures and Transformers and websites and blogs about same to weed through. But who kept a Froztok safe, let alone packaged for 20 years? Probably no one, at least not on purpose. But a few kids will have forgotten their mom stashed one away and they never got around to opening it or whatever until they found it in the closet decades later, and they'll ask big prices on futureBay and the kid will pay it because he NEEDS that Froztok back again!

Or maybe he won't be worth anything, because no one cares anymore. But YOU care, and you need to find yourself a Froztok again, dammit!

So for that kid, or other future kids wondering exactly who this old ice dude is who they loved so much but can't remember anything about, here's what's stamped on froztok's back:

China 11505 Copyright 2011 SML

I'll try to keep mine in good condition but sorry, I already threw away the packaging!

I picked up a lot of these figures at Target for $3 each. They are actually quite a bit of fun. I don't really know what I'm going to do with all of them now, maybe I'm sitting on a future gold mine. Actually, I will probably be giving these away slowly as more and more friends of mine have kids.

"Some guy in his 30s in the year 2033 will be typing 'Ice monster green blades' to find Froztok because he will only recall having gotten him for his 10th birthday from an aunt out in Vegas and he tore the packaging away immediately and never even looked at the figure's name, but grew to love him because he was so sturdy and versatile and eventually he lost him or mom sold him and boy he'd love to get that obscure action figure back, with or without those green swords (did he have two or just one, he can't remember) now that he's an 'adult' and needs to reclaim his youth and accept that he never really outgrew toys he merely caved to societal pressure for a few years as a teen."